Citation Resource

Books

There are two primary ways to identify books. One is
searching through catalogs, like the KU Libraries Catalog and WorldCat.
The other is to utilize bibliographies from books and articles.Once you have a title of a work, use these
catalogs to see KU owns it. If not order it through Interlibrary Loan.

A digital repository of books and journals of some of the United State's major research libraries. Approximately 20% of the content is in the public domain and freely available.

Searching the Online Catalog

Examples of keywords that retrieve primary sources: sources, personal narratives, diaries, papers, letters, documents. Another way to find primary sources is to do an author search of the individual or organization whose writings you hope to find.

Here is an example of how to use the Advanced Search

Selected Primary Sources

Finding primary sources takes creativity, patience, and tenacity. KU Libraries subscribes to a number of electronic primary source resources. But these are only a place to start. Below are some resources to get you started. Be sure to explore the "Chronological Periods" tab at the top for more comprehensive lists.

American Memory is a gateway to the Library of Congress’s vast resources of digitized American historical materials. Comprising more than 9 million items that document U.S. history and culture, American Memory is organized into more than 100 thematic collections based on their original format, their subject matter, or who first created, assembled, or donated them to the Library.

Keyword searching in the catalog on a topic and words that indicates primary sources can often retrieve excellent results. Try pairing a topic with words such as: diaries, journal, paper, autobiography, or correspondence. Also, the catalog contains records for newspaper and periodicals, which can be used as primary sources.

Search Readers' Guide Retrospective for access to popular literature from the twentieth century. Some of the magazines indexed include: Sports Illustrated, Black Enterprise, Look, Time, and Good Housekeeping.

The Vogue Archive contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition) from 1892 to the present day. Vogue is a unique record of American and international popular culture that extends beyond fashion.

Relevant Print Indexes

These indexes are excellent tools to find primary sources from 20th century periodicals. The links provided are to just one of the many entries for the title. If the link doesn't include the years you need use the "Continues" and "Continued by" to find the location of the volume you need.